Cities retreat from state promise of marijuana access

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California was the first state to support medical marijuana, but these days, local advocates see courts and city bans forcing pot patients back into the shadows.

As marijuana collectives have shuttered in cities across Orange County – most recently in Garden Grove – voters in Washington state and Colorado have moved to support not only medical use of the drug, but recreational use as well. Eighteen states allow for some form of medical marijuana, but one Orange County advocate says that even though California broke ground with its Compassionate Use Act in 1996, many local leaders are doing whatever they can to keep the drug out.

“Here, they're still trying to fight it,” said Kandice Hawes of Orange County NORML, a group that works to reform marijuana laws. “Sixteen years later, they're trying to fight it.”

Despite the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act and 2003's state SB420 that brought forth further regulations, medical marijuana in California has been consumed by a tangle of lawsuits that Hawes sees as a waste of resources. Time and money would be better spent in creating solid regulations and oversight to keep some storefront collectives open, she said.

“They don't want to be criminals,” she said. “They want to be law-abiding citizens.”

Under SB420, which established the state Medical Marijuana Program, patients or their caregivers should have no more than 8 ounces of the dried plant, six mature live plants or 12 immature plants. Collectives have interpreted that to mean they may have up to 8 ounces of marijuana per patient in their inventories, a reading of the law that remains controversial.

Chris Glew, a Santa Ana attorney who commonly works on medical marijuana cases, said the Medical Marijuana Program guidelines should not be considered as the defining law when it comes to prosecuting caregivers.

“Any legislative amendment can't curtail the original intention of the voter-passed initiatives. That means that the (Medical Marijuana Program) can't restrict unnecessarily the intent” of the Compassionate Use Act, Glew said. “Does law enforcement, for the most part, still believe that is the law? Sure. But by no means is it.”

Cities cracking down

In April, federal authorities raided two dispensaries in Santa Ana, and 56 other shops received warning letters telling them to comply with federal law that prohibits the distribution of marijuana. By June, city officials said 42 had shut down and those remaining in operation would face further orders to cease operation as well as criminal citations. Most Orange County city councils have passed bans of the pot storefronts, which the California Supreme Court upheld in May. The ruling prompted Garden Grove, home to Orange County's highest concentration of dispensaries, to begin enforcing its ban.

Those hurt most by the dip in support for medical marijuana tend to be older, sicker patients who lack the ability and income to grow high-quality medicine, Hawes said.

“It does get cheaper the larger the garden is,” she said.

While larger operations run the risk of federal raids and city penalties, others have found that staying small has its benefits.

Steve Ramsey took over Kind Deliveries, a medical marijuana delivery service, last year; he expected it to be just another job. Instead, he's gotten what he calls some of the most rewarding experiences of his life. He, his brother and another driver handle deliveries in South County, and his wife and cousin work in Northern California staffing the phones and preparing the marijuana.

Their patient database includes about 900 people, with about half using the service more than once. On a busy day, they might deliver to 30 people, and Ramsey plans to close membership soon. His goal, he said, isn't to serve the 18- to 20-year-olds who are just looking to get high: “I don't need the business. I'd rather they go somewhere else.”

Instead, Ramsey prefers to serve his regulars and keep a low profile.

After his wife verifies a new patient's recommendation, the order information and address go to Ramsey through an encrypted instant-messaging program. He assembles the order – 1/8-ounce heat-sealed packages are available in a variety of strains – which then goes into a white paper bag marked “prescription.” Once the patient's address is plugged into the GPS of his 2007 Prius, he texts back his estimated time of arrival.

Greeting customers

A typical day might take him from a multimillion-dollar home in a gated community to a modest apartment in one of the area's sprawling, manicured complexes. Patients usually invite him in, where he greets their dogs or chats about how they're doing.

“I've never felt the least bit in danger with anybody I've dealt with,” he said.

At the Laguna Hills home of Robert Morales, Ramsey tells the 63-year-old he's looking better than the last time they saw each other.

Morales, who has had HIV for 24 years, takes a cocktail of 23 pills each morning. A small glass pipe sits on the coffee table; he smokes marijuana when he takes his more traditional medication.

“I use it to settle my stomach and keep my food down and make me hungry for breakfast,” Morales said.

The prescription drugs he takes are full of side effects, and Morales said he doesn't understand why there continues to be pushback about medical marijuana.

“There's the age-old stigma of reefer madness,” he said. “People just don't understand that it's not a hallucinatory. It's a natural substance.”

After giving Morales his most recent order, Ramsey suggests a marijuana strain higher in cannabidiol and lower in THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound notorious for creating a high. “It's a little different from the stuff you've had before,” Ramsey says. “It might work better for your pain.”

They part with smiles.

“Thanks, buddy,” Ramsey said. “See you in a week or two.”

Creating oversight

Creating that oversight will be key to finding a way to make medical marijuana work in Orange County, according to activists such as Hawes.

With little hope left in the courts, she has worked on a ballot measure that will go to voters in Santa Ana in 2014. The Santa Ana Medical Cannabis Restriction and Limitation Act aims to keep patients from turning to the black market while creating standards for dispensary operation, limiting where they may be located and restricting the number that can operate in the city at any given time. The act would also establish a business tax of $20 per every $1,000 in receipts.

“If there's no control, there's chaos,” Hawes said.

Lawmakers haven't always taken medical marijuana seriously, Hawes said, and she's hopeful voters can bring back progress on the issue to California. If the Santa Ana measure passes, all dispensaries would have to close and apply for registration with the city under specific standards.

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